Tag Archives: Houston food blogger

SHRIMP AND AVOCADO SALSA

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I found this 1939 advertisement on eBay:

The Bread Diet — “a safer way to gain alluring slenderness.”  It “cuts down excess weight without starvation, fatigue or nervous strain.”  Imagine enjoying TWO slices of bread with every meal AND losing weight!  Not only that, but look at what you can do with the energy you’ll get from 2 slices of bread:

That’s right — you can wash windows for an hour!  So maybe you can’t shatter the glass ceiling — at least you can clean it!  Know what else you can do on 2 slices of bread?

That’s right — you can iron for an hour! No wonder women started working outside the home — who wants to stay home and eat bread and iron and clean windows?  By the way — how long do you think I could wash windows or iron on a pint of Blue Bell Cookies & Cream?

One more benefit of the Bread Diet is that it apparently helps you grow freakishly long legs:

So how’s that New Year’s diet going?  Have you already abandoned it for the Bread Diet? I’m pleased to say that I have managed to stick with my New Year’s diet.  One of my favorite “diet” foods is shrimp — Gulf coast wild caught shrimp, to be exact.  3 ounces of shrimp has only 76 calories, 15 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, and 1 gram of carbohydrates.  I don’t know if that provides enough energy to wash windows for an hour, but then again, I don’t really care.

Inspired by the vintage ad and New Year’s diet resolutions, here’s a simple recipe for Shrimp and Avocado Salsa that we really enjoyed.  Pick a ripe, but firm avocado and handle it gently so as not to turn the salsa into guacamole.  This would make a good Super Bowl appetizer.  (I suppose if you’re really trying to watch it, you could scoop it onto a lettuce leaf instead of a tortilla chip, but then it would be Shrimp and Avocado Sadness.)

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SHRIMP AND AVOCADO SALSA
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Ingredients
  • ½ pound cooked wild-caught shrimp, cleaned, deveined, and coarsely chopped
  • 2 large firm but ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and diced
  • 1 small serrano chile, seeds and ribs removed, minced
  • Juice of 1 small lime
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus sprig for optional garnish
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, and gently fold together until combined, taking care not to mash the avocados. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with cilantro sprig, if desired. Serve with tortilla chips.

 

CORNBREAD DRESSING

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With Thanksgiving thankfully behind us, we packed up the Thanksgiving decorations last weekend and started hauling out the Christmas decorations.  We enjoyed the smaller, saner Thanksgiving gathering this year, and we’re looking forward to spending Christmas with just our immediate family this year.  Honestly, I’m appreciating this 2020 “time out.”

So how was your Thanksgiving?  Ours turned out OK.  My amaryllis cooperated and bloomed on cue:

And I was pleased with my first attempt at making a floral centerpiece using a combination of grocery store flowers and foliage from my yard:

Most of the side dishes were the same ones we serve Every. Single. Year.  But I also made  cornbread dressing for the first time, and it’ll definitely be making a repeat performance next year.  It was moist and savory, and could be a meal in itself.  Maybe it was (don’t judge).  Some people like to make stuffing cups by baking the dressing in muffin tins, and I’m sure this would be excellent too.  Or maybe they just like to do that because it’s so fun to say “stuffin’ muffins.”  You know, like “puddin’ pops.”  I baked half of the recipe in a pie plate, and it looked nice — the other half went to a friend.  This was by far my favorite leftover!

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CORNBREAD DRESSING
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Ingredients
  • 1 package prepared cornbread mix, crumbled*
  • 3 slices toasted bread, crumbled or chopped into small pieces
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 stalks celery, diced
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon dried sage
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 cup shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie works well)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • *Prepare the cornbread mix according to package directions at least a day before. When cool, crumble it into a large bowl and cover it with dish towel -- this will allow it to dry out a little before using in the recipe.
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery, and saute until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
  2. Place the crumbled cornbread and toasted bread in a large bowl. Add the onion, celery, chicken broth, sage, eggs, cream of chicken soup, shredded chicken, and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until well combined.
  3. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish (or two large pie plates) with cooking spray, and pour in the dressing.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until dressing is set and lightly golden brown. (To test for doneness, gently shake the dish -- if the center of the dressing moves, then it is not cooked through and needs to bake longer). Serve hot.